[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        CLEANUP THE GREAT LAKES

                                 ______

                        HON. STEVE C. LaTOURETTE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 14, 1995
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, on Friday the 10th of March, I joined 
Congressman Quinn of Buffalo and Congressman Oberstar of Minnesota to 
introduce two pieces of legislation crafted to protect and enhance one 
of the world's most valuable natural resources--the Great Lakes. 
Representing over 90 percent of our Nation's fresh water supply, the 
Great Lakes' importance to our region's health and economy cannot be 
overstated. Currently, the Great Lakes supports a $4.5 billion 
recreational fishing economy.
  Unfortunately, historical pollution found in the sediments of Great 
Lakes rivers and harbors remains a severe impediment to our shipping 
and recreational opportunities, threatens fish and wildlife resources 
and places human health at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, my first bill, the Assessment and Remediation of 
Contaminated Sediments [ARCS] Reauthorization Act, will amend the Clean 
Water Act section 118 to continue the demonstration of innovative 
technologies to remediate contaminated sediments in Great Lakes rivers 
and harbors that was originally authorized in the 1987 amendments to 
the Clean Water Act.
  The first ARCS program provided valuable demonstrations of 
technologies at the pilot scale that now need to be validated for 
commercial use. In the reauthorization, the Environmental Protection 
Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office will also consider new 
strategies for sediment removal and containment such as those being 
demonstrated at the Ashtabula River and Harbor in my congressional 
district in Ohio. To date, the formation of a new partnership among 
Federal, State, local government, and industry has been successful in 
avoiding a new Superfund designation and will lower cost and shorten 
the timeframe for cleanup. This is a success story that needs to be 
repeated throughout our country.
  The second bill, the Great Lakes Federal Effectiveness Act, provides 
for enhanced research coordination efforts among the many Federal, 
State and Canadian parties across the Great Lakes Basin. By evaluating 
our current efforts against projected goals we can then prioritize 
among the agencies to ensure the best Federal investment while avoiding 
costly duplication of effort.
  It is appropriate that I dedicate the Great Lakes Federal 
Effectiveness Act to the memory of Peter Seidl. As Secretary to the 
International Joint Commission's Council of Great Lakes Research 
Managers, Peter pioneered the concept and was instrumental to the 
drafting of this legislation. On May 7, 1994, Peter was on an 
environmental mission for the World Bank when his plane was lost over 
the Andes mountains enroute to La Paz, Bolivia. To date, the most 
extensive search and rescue effort in the history of South America has 
been unable to locate his plane.
  While friends and family pray for Peter's safe return, I wish to 
memorialize his extraordinary efforts on behalf of the Great Lakes in 
service to both his homeland of Canada and his friends and colleagues 
in the United States.


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